Wrapping-machine for round tablets.



E. BAUMANN. WRAPPING MACHINE FOR ROUND TABLETS.

I APPLICATlON HLED AUG-4Nl91i- 1 ,259,475 Patented Mar. 19, 1918.

4 SHEETS-SHEET E. BAUMANN.

WRAPPING MACHINE FOR ROUND TABLETS.

' APPLICATION FILED AUGJ, L9H. 1,259,475. Patented .19, 1918;

I A" SHEETS-SHEET 2.

E. BAUMANN. WRAPPING MACHINE FOR ROUND TABLETS.

' APPLICATION FILED AUG.4. 1917. 1,259,475. Patented .19,1918.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

E. BAUMANN.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4" Patented Mar. 19, 1918.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EMIL BAUMANN; or BERNE, SWITZERLAND, ASSIGNOR TO AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT oHoooLA'r TOBLER, or BERNE, SWITZERLAND, A CORPORATION or SWITZERLAND.

WRAPPING-MACHINE FOR ROUND TABLETS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 19, 1918.

Application filed August 4, 1917. Serial No. 184,386.

To all whom it may concern:

' Be it known that 1', E5111. BAUMANN, a citizen of the Swiss Confederation, and residing at Berne Switzerland, have invented a certain new and useful Improved" rap ping-Machine for Round Tablets, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a Wrapping-machine for round tablets and is provided with one constituent part for conveying the tab let together with a sheet of wrapping paper downward and through an opening into a position between at least three other parts supporting the tablet laterally a ring capable of a circular movement being provided above the three parts in such a manner as by means of its inner edge to have the paper projecting over and above the tablet folded down toward the center on the upper face of the same.

In the drawing representing as an example of the object of my invention a twin wrappinganachine Figure 1 is a side elevation;

Fig. 2 a front view of one halfof the machine seen from the right in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 a plan,

Fig. t apart of a plan and Fig. 5 a detail of the machine.

The machine as shown is provided with two magazines 3 and fl: placed alongside each other on a horizontal plate 1 of the machine frame 2, said magazines consisting of vertical tubes open at both ends and slotted vertically on the front side of the machine as at 5. so as to allow an. easy control of the number of. the tablets and to give access to the same. Plate 1 is resting on the upwardly turned flanges of a U shaped channell ike.plate 6 which projects over plate 1 and'reposes on two plates 7 by means of two fillets 6 provided at theendsof said plate 6. The inner surface "between the two flanges of plate 6xserves as a path for a slide 8 and for the tablets, the latter coming out from the bottomlen P ,et' e es iine i;

shape of the tablets (Fig. 3) the latter are pushed alternately toward two openings 9 provided in the path of the slide. The slide'8 is operated by means of two levers 10 and 10 mounted on a horizontal shaft 11, lever 10 being engaged with a slide piece 12 fastened to slide 8 and lever 10 being pressed by means of a spring 14 attached to lever 10 against the face of a cam 13. This cam is fastened unto the face of a grooved disk 15 and its free face is set obliquely with regard to shaft 11 so that the levers 10, 10 will move once to and fro for each revolution of the shaft pushing thereby one tablet each from underneath the magazines 3 and 1-. The distance between magazine 3 and opening 9 is so chosen that at the most twotablets. at a time will find place in this space. In order to prevent the standing-up against each other of any two tablets touching each other on account of the beveled edges of the same a weight piece 49 mounted so as to swing vertically on a pin 41-8 has been provided outside of plate 1 above the path of slide 8 said piece 49 reposing on the tablet or tablets resting on plate 6. 13 is provided with a groove 17 running partly concentrically with and partly eccentrically to shaft 16, said groove serving as a guide for a friction roller fitted on the shorter arm of a bell-crank lever 18. The forked longer arm of the same engages with a pin 19 standing rigidly fast and at right angles on a vertical rod 20. To the upper end of this rod is secured fast an arm 21 projecting over plate 6 and carrying with1n an eye over the opening 9 a hollow downwardly projecting rod 22 which is fitted at its lower end with a hollow bell-shaped head 23.

be pushed through opening 9 and through an opening 24 below it provided within-plate 7 an havi g,

a strongly rounded-o if upper I Disk 15 on its face opposite cam The diameter of the same corresponds v to that of the tab-lets, so that head 23 can necting the same with the lever 32 fixed on the shaft .30. The contact between cam roller 36 and a friction roller fitted to the 'end of lever is secured by a spring 3% engaging with lever 33. Band 37 unrolling from a roller 89 passes underneath a roller 40' wherefrom it is led upward over two rollers ll and il and over a table 42 the front edge of which together with the knife 31 forms the cutter. Roller 40 is mounted on an axis 43 held fast at the end of a lever 44 and the latter is suspended by means of traction men'iber 44 affixed to one of the bearings of shaft 39 and runningover said shaft so as to act like a brake on roller 39. A counter-weight 45 slidably supported by a lever l-l counterbalances the weight of roller 40 to such an extent that this roller touches the band 37 but slightly and keeps the same taut. A roller 46 provided on its circumference with a frictional covering and held within bearings 46 formed by vertical slots open at their tops rests above a companion .roller. The cheeks of these slot-bearings are shortened on one side of the bearing exposing the trunnions. Alongside ofthe cheeks have been provided vertical pins 47 and levers 47 which are swing ingly fitted thereonto and which may be shifted upward against the action of a spring 47. These levers 47' extend over the lower cheeks and bear upon the trunnions of the roller 4s6pressing the latter downward onto the band 37 thus clamping the latter between roller l6 and its companion roller. The roller 46 and its companion roller are in engagementby means of a gear 50, 51. The trunnion of the lower .roller is fitted with the pinion andcarries at the end of a lengthened part a pinion 52 gearing with a toothed rim 53" of a.friction ratchet gear not shown in the drawing. The ratchet gear'having the toothed rim is rocked back and forth by means of levers 54;, 55 (Figs. 1 and 3) by a crank disk 5.6 mounted on shaft 16 for the purpose of exactly,positioning the band 37 during the operation of the cutter 31. Moreovera lever 57' is provided (Fig, 2), which atits lower end carries a friction rollerbearing against a earn 58 also mounted on shaft 16 (Figs. 2 and v5). At its upper end lever 57 supports one of the trunnions of the lower companion roller referred to. During the cuttingoper ation' which in fact lasts but an instant the cam .Ldisl': 58 will move .l'eve'r 575111 a sense opposite to the ordinary turning direction of the companion roller. At the same time the rotation of ,uthis :roller is interrupted while the friction ratchet is swinging back for the next feeding movement. Roller tl willbe turned bac'k for such an amount only that the cut off edge of the band will be moved back a little from the knife during the latters upward stroke. Four vertical shafts 59 carrying each a roller 60 above a horizontalplate 2 of the machine frame are grouped around the lengthened axis of the registering openings 9 and 24. The distance between the circumferential ed es of each two diametrically opposed rollers is somewhat greater than the diametor of the tablets to be wrapped, so that the tablet together with its wrapping sheet brought down through the openings 9 and 24: will find room enough between the four rollers. In order to prevent the tablet from dropping through the rollers 60 and to cause it to stay for some time between the said rollers, these are provided at their lower circumferential edges with flanges 61 with a cut-out therein for letting pass the tablet after its being wrapped. Above the rollers 60 a horizontally placed ring 62 is linked on one side by means of an arm 63 to a lever 64 and on the other side by means of an arm 63 to a connecting rod 65 arranged crosswise to saidarm (Fig. -l-, lower part). Lever Gdis fixed to the top end of a vertical shaft 66 journaled on the outside of the machine frame and fitted at its bottom end with acrankBQ which by means of a spring 67 is pressed against the outer face of a cam disk 68 fast on shaft 16. The operating surface of this cam disk hastwo steps 68 and 6S whereof the first is but half as high .as the latter but very much larger. 'Ring 62 will therefore travel in the direction of the-arms 63. 63 with two movements which are separated ifromeach other by an interval of time and whereof the first will adjust .the ring 62 at least approXi mately concentrically with the opening formed by the four rollers fiO and the. secondtaccording to the lower part of Fig, 4:) will move the ring 62 so much toward'the interior that its outeinedge will reach into the interior of the said opening. The connecting rod .65 is guide'd on oneside by means .of apin 71 engaging. in.a--slot.70 cut into. said rod. and is linked. on theotherside atthe upper end 0f;a two.armed lever.73 pivoted .at .72. The .pulling action .on ,rod I 65..exertedhy; a spring Tcausesthefrictionroller at the.lower end of.1ever.7.3 to bear againstthehircnmferhce of disk.15 and of ring -13 .andiagainsti the. depression Tethere- .in. This depressionis. so: arranged with regard to.the.higher step 68.of camdisk .68 Lthat both will .act simultaneously on their respective levers 6.9, .73, This .will cause the ring 52 to execute a composite movement which in the case as represented is approximately a semi-circular one. By this move ment of ring 62 the portion of the wrap ping sheet projecting above the upper side of rollers 60 is caused to be folded down at least partly toward the center of and over the tablet. The rollers 60 rotating all in the same sense are driven synchronously by shaft 16. This shaft is coupled bymeans of a chain gear 76 with a shaft 77 which by means of bevel gears 78 is driving a ver tical shaft 79 arranged centrally with regard to shafts Pinions 80 provided at the bottom ends of the shafts 59 are in gear with a common gear wheel 81 fixed at the top of shaft 79.

By the rotation. of the rollers 60 the tablet held between the same will be rotated likewise which will cause the inward folding of the. wrapping sheet on its whole circuniference. In the position of the rollers 60 as shown in the upper port-ion of Fig. l, one tablet will be dropped between the rollore and according to the position shown in the lower portion of Fig. 4, the tablet will be dropped through between the rollers which in this position have turned their cutout portions 61 toward each other. In order to secure a quick and safe passage of the dropped tablets the cut-outs 61 are much enlarged toward the lower outlet so that the dropped tablets will even receive a downwardly directed blow from the rollers. The tablet being wrapped completely will after leaving the rollers be dropped into an inclined chute 82 gliding downward therein. In the path of the chute 82- are provided two rollers 83 and 8% arranged with their axes one above the other in an oblique plane and both made of elastic material. The first roller is driven from shaft 16 by means of gears not shown in the drawing for clearnesss sake. The tablets gliding down the chute 82 will be seized between the said rollers 83 and 84C and on their passage between the same will have the folds of the wrapping sheet firmly pressed down. This will complete the whole wrapping operation.

The working of one half of the machine is as follows: A tablet after having left for instance the magazine 3 will be pushed by slide 8 within the channel-like plate 6 toward opening 9. At the same time band 37 has been. fed toward opening 24 for a length amounting to the length of a wrapping sheet. Knife 31 will then swing downward at once swinging back and will have separated thereby a length of band 37 corresponding to the size of a wrapping sheet. The tablet being dropped now on this sheet will be pushed downward through the opening 24 by means of the downwardly moving heads 23, 28. By this operation the parts of the wrapping sheet projecting over the tablet will be bent upward. The elastic suspension of the head 28 has the advantage that this head while moving again upward may yield to some extent without. taking the tablet along with it in the case that the sheet should be clamped beween the head and' the edge of openin 2- The tablet is thendropped through the ring 2 between the rollers 60, which will begin to rotate the tablets During this rotation ring 62 will move inan opposite sense with a circular movement "(see the arrow in lower part of Fig. l) andwill fold the upwardly projecting edges of the sheet toward the inside and over the tablet. As soon as the cut-outs 61 of the rollers 61 come opposite each other the completely wrapped tablets drop into the chute 82 where gliding downward they are compressed between the rollers 83, 84:, which finish the wrapping operation.

The two halves of the machine work alternately. Slide 8 pushes the tablets from both magazines 8, 4 successively toward the (warnings 9. Then one of the heads 23, 28 rises, while the other descends. During this operation a tablet is wrapped by one set of rollers and cooperating ring, while by the other set a wrapped tablet is dropped into the chute 82, another tablet always immediately taking the place of the preceding tablet.

The construction of the machine as shown is, of course, capable of modifications which still fall within the scope of my invention.

Claims:

1. In a wrapping machine for round tablets the combination with suitable feeding mechanisms for the tablets and the wrapping sheets therefor and with an opening leading to a folding device, of means for pushing a tablet placed on a wrapping sheet downward through the said opening thereby bending-up the projecting edges of the sheet, means comprising at least three holding devices for maintaining the tablet in position laterally and a ring provided above the thus maintained tablet and underneath the said opening and capable of a circular movement for folding the upwardly bent edges of the wrapping sheet together and down inwardly over the top face of the tablet.

2. In a wrapping machine for round tablets and the like, the combination with a tablet magazine, a feeding means for the tablets and a feeding means for the wrapping sheets, of means for delivering one tablet at a time to a delivery opening to be deposited in said opening on a wrapper previously placed by the said wrapping sheet feeding means over a second opening registering with the said delivery opening, a device for pushing the tablet and wrapper together through the said second opening, thereby bending up the projecting edges of the wrapping sheet, a grooved cam disk and a bell crank lever cooperating therewith for operating said pushing device, the latter comprising a hollow rod, a bell-shaped head I hereonfitting the said openings and a rod mounted within said hollow rod and provided with a disk-like head adapted to cooperate with said bell-shaped head.

3. In a wrapping-machine for round tablets the combination with a feeding device for the tablets and a feeding device for the wrapping sheets, and actuatii'ig means there- .for for feeding the tablets and wrapping sheets toward two registering openings, of means for maintaining the tablet in position laterally afterits passage through the delivery opening and the second opening registering therewith, means for bending the wrapper upwardly, means for folding the upwardly bent portions of the wrapper inwardly toward the center of the tablet and down on its upper face, said means comprisinga ring capable of a component movement, an arm on said ring, a lever for moving said ring by means of said arm in one direction, ,a shaft carrying said lever, a crank mounted on said shaft, a stepped cam disk cooperating with said crank, a second arm on said ring oppo-sedto said other arm, a connecting rod cooperating with said second arm, a two-armed lever, a cam for moving said lever, a spring yieldingly holding said lever in contact with said cam, and means for operating said cam to actuate said lever in timed relation to said crank.

at. In a wrapping machine for round tablets and the like, the combination with separate feeding devices for the tablets and the wrapping sheets and means for actuating said feeding devices, of a pushing device for pushing the tablet together with a wrapping sheet through an opening, thereby bending up the projecting portions of the wrapping sheet placed by its feeding device below the, tablet and over said opening, and a device for receiving and rotating the partly wrapped tablet to fold the wrapping sheets toward the inside and maintaining it in position laterally the said device comprising rollers, rotatable shafts carrying the same, gear wheels mounted on said shafts, an actuating shaft, a gear wheel thereon in mesh with the gear wheels on the said roller carrying shafts, a bevel gear on said actu ating shaft, a horizontal driving shaft, and a bevelgear thereon in mesh with the bevel gear on said actuating shaft.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

RI DRI Na au, FREDERICK MONINGS.

Copies or this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingtne Commissioner or iatents,

' Washington, D. C. 

